Michael A. Pruno

Tag Archives: queens

Off rip, I need to offer a disclaimer: in my debatable opinion, Nas is the G.O.A.T, almost divine from my point of view. His sophmore album, “It Was Written” may be my favorite album of all time. His second effort was laced with cuts like “Take it in blood”, “Shootouts” and “The Message”, which showed an elevation in his artistry in comparison to his immortal debut “Illmatic”. From Nas’ fashion sense, to his writing ability, all the way down to his mystique when dealing with some of the baddest women on the planet, the “only one Sade dated” has been an inspirtation to me in more ways than one. However, my admiration for Nas and opinion on the Jay/Nas feud creates quite the juxtaposition. With that said, I digress…

In the darker years of Nas legendary career, circa 1998 to 2000, Jay-Z’s career really started to take off after going platinum 5 times over with his “Hard Knock Life” album. Up to this point, Nas was undoubtedly the city’s golden pen, but the ink was running dry for Esco and the support seemed to shift in the direction of Hov. There was silent tension since the inception of Jay’s career, and escalated after the departure of B.I.G because it gave way to the King-Of-New-York conversation. Some will say Nas threw the first dart all the way back in 1996 on “The Message” when he said “Lex with tv sets the minimum”, after Jay was seen driving a lex, with tv sets, in a few of his early videos. That’s neither here, nor there. Some will also say it all started because of a proceeding subliminal exchange between Nas and Jay’s shooter, Memphis bleek, in 1999.

“Ima ball til I fall what you think of that?”-Memphis Bleek (“What you think of that?”)

Re: “you wanna ball til you fall? I could help you with that”- Nas (“Nastradamus”)

Once again, that’s neither here, nor there. All the subs, resentments and tension would have it’s cover blown with one subtle line on that Hot 97 Summer Jam stage, in 2001. Hov used the platform to debut, what was really a Mobb Deep diss: “Takeover”. However, what caught the ears of the city wasn’t his jabs about Prodigy’s credibility or height, it was the line that ended the song: “Y’all niggas don’t want it with Hov, ask Nas, he don’t want it with Hov”. It is said that Nas was reluctant to respond because, despite Jay’s success, he didn’t believe the Brooklynite was on his level. Thankfully, Nas had some honest people around him, who put him on game and said in so many words “regardless what you believe, this is the dude right now, if you don’t respond, it’s over”.

Nas initial response was “H to the omo” or the “stillmatic freestyle”. This was a flex in lyrical superiority over the break-beat from Dennis Edward’s “Don’t look any further”, popularized in the hip hop world by Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in full” . Nas threw more than a few not-so-subliminal lines towards Hov, even calling him the rapper version of Sisqo, which un-intentionally made the Dru-hill singer the standard for soft in the rap world. The response was enough to make Hov go back to the lab to add an additional verse to “Takeover” solely aimed for Nas dome piece like Jerome’s niece coming from Jones Beach.

The additional verse was all types of disrespectful and attacked Nas from every angle. Jay picked at his artistic and street credibility, and ended the verse by subliminally referencing that he fucked Nas baby mother, Carmen Bryan, who later used it to her advantage and made a tell-all book about it. It seemed quiet for Nas after that. Lo and behold, 6 months later, Nas drops “Ether” which is almost seen as the awakening of the beast, the resurrection and a far cry from records like “You owe me”. Nas also took it to record levels of disrespect and mockery, referencing him swagger-jacking Biggies style, his Hawaiian sophie days and made room to call him a “tae-bo hoe”.

With everyone waiting for a response from Jay, he dropped a sub-par diss track “Super ugly” which just seemed like he was trying to be more disrespectful than creative. Nas’ biggest advantage, at this point, was representing the underdog . The game almost-unanimously labeled Nas the victor in this match of the titans. But here’s where the confession comes in, even as a Nas stan, I feel Jay won.

There are a number of reasons why a lot of people feel that Jay lost. One, they didn’t expect anything from Nas at that point in his career, but he came out like a bear from hibernation. Two, Jay responded with “super-ugly”, which gave room for general perception to compare a weaker response to “Ether”, rather than pinning it against “Takeover”. Three, “Ether” became a verb for shitting on people after Nas dropped it. However, outside of the moment and in retrospect, Jay came with more fact and “Ether” seemed more like a game of dozens. Nas clowned Jay, attacking his physical misfortune, homosexual references, unrealistic threats. Nas also criticized him for taking from Big, which could also be considered Jay paying homage to a fallen friend. What could be the most potent and transcending critique in “Ether” was about Eminem “murdering” Hov on “Renegade”, which gave birth to barbershop analysts everywhere debating verses on any track which featured two or more prominent spitters. In contrast: Jay, being sharp in the art of war, played on the collective’s opinion of Nas at the time. Though a Nas fan such as myself doesn’t agree that he never lived up to the potential of “Illmatic”, there is a large amount of hip hop fans who feel that way. Jay also pointed out instances like the questionable “Karl Kani” ads and “oochie wally” appearances. Hov shot at Nas with facts, for the most part he avoided joking and bullshit threats. Here are some of the jabs Hov dropped that Nas should’ve addressed:

He attacked “oochie wally”: Another questionable move on Nas behalf and is almost cringe worthy to listen to Nas stretch for fame in that fashion until this day.

“I showed you your first tec, on tour with Large Professor, then I heard your album about the tec on the dresser”: this line would just be another aimless jab of credibility from Jay, but Large Professor spoke on this as well.

“So yeah I sampled your voice…you ain’t get a coin, nigga, you was gettin fucked then/ I know who I paid, God- Serchlite publishing”: attacking Nas on a business-level and him getting duked out of money by bad contractual terms. Serch did say that there was some fact to this on “The Champs” podcast, though that wasn’t the name of his publishing company at the time.

“You’ve been in this 10, I been in it 5- smarten up, Nas”: From a level of progression, Nas was not where he was supposed to be with the sub-par “Nastradamus” and the good (but not IWW/Illmatic level) “I AM”, he wasn’t where most would’ve thought judging from how the queensbridge emcee shot out the gate. In the meantime, Jay was going no-where but up.

“Because you know who-did you know what-with you know who”: Jay referencing the more-than-alleged sexual encounter with the mother of Nas first born. Super disrespectful and confirmed.

So yeah, as a fan of fact-based personal attack, I feel Jay took this battle. Regardless of what your opinion is, we can all agree: this is one of the best back-and-forths hip hop as ever seen. The kings clashed and kept it on wax. They provided pure entertainment and classic material, that we still talk about nearly 15 years later.

As I stated in my disclaimer, Nas is still my favorite emcee of all time. He was 2 top 5 albums for me (IWW & Illmatic), while Jay only has one (Reasonable Doubt). As he stated on “Ether” he did influence a whole generation of rappers and reigned as the cream of the crop, in an era of hip hop when your pen had to be sharp to survive. Though Nas has had his inconsistencies, he’s always managed to bounce back and he proved that with his 2012 album “Life Is Good”, the moet-drinking-marajuana-smoking- street dweller can still do it, regardless of where he’s at in life.

Sidebar: The beat to “Ether” was awful.

Sidebar II: If you say Jay won, on the basis of Nas signing to Def Jam, you’re a corn.

Still, in 2015, there is confusion regarding what exactly “New York hip hop” actually is. Most have pigeon-holed the sub-genre into boom-bap, or anyone who raps like Nas or someone from Wu-Tang. My sentiment to those who assume such, is the same as it was last year, everything evolves and there are still dope artists coming from our city that sound nothing like what we’ve heard before. Such is the case with Bed-Stuy-Far Rock fusion of Manolo Rose.

Manolo Rose is in the vein of New York artists like Onyx, Busta Rhymes & DMX. He’s not going to blow you away lyrically, but he uses his energy as his trademark. He has a knack for making memorable hooks, which is noted on his own songs as well as his often show-snatching appearances on other people’s records. The backdrop which perfectly compliments his riot-inducing vocals is usually supplied by Fame-school Slim, one half of the Fame School, an up-and-coming architect on the boards. When Manolo came with his break-out single “Run Ricky Run” it was the most unorthodox, unconventional banger I’ve heard since Black Rob’s “Whoa”. The beat didn’t actually drop until well into the song and it was confusing DJs all throughout the Tri-state, who were trying to figure out how to work the record in the club. The concept was derived from classic Hood flicks like John Singleton’s “Boyz n tha Hood”, “Menace To Society”. “Juice” and “Harlem Knights”. He cleverly used the movies to define life lessons such as “keeping the grass cut so you can see the snakes come” and to “Never let a nigga get away with nothing”. My mind had trouble adapting to the song at first, but I felt it, and I knew it was something ground-breaking.

With such an impact on a breakout single, it’s tough to say if we’ll ever see an artist again in the era of the one-hit-wonders, but he’s followed up strong. With records like “Fuck 12“, “Gun-Fu” and “Super-Flexin“, he continues to perpetuate the lane that he’s carving out for himself, the anthemic-through-the-roof energy New York city hip hop. He’s building both his brand and his buzz on songs with Harlem’s own Vado, Rowdy Rebel (Of GS9), Rico Love, and of course, the controversial collaboration on Troy Ave’s “All about the money”.

As many have heard, the Troy Ave single was originally Manolo Rose’s “Dope man“, neither artist denies that fact. The concept, the hook and the production is all the same as the original, just with appearances from Troy Ave and BSB’s Young Lito. Though the transfer of the record was a bit jux-like, Manolo Rose kept it business and used it as an opportunity to market himself on a more established artist’s platform, even appearing in the video. He has since denounced any beef between him and Troy ave, charging it to the game, and enjoying the perks that came with the success of the record.

Manolo Rose has grown out of the shadow of his mega-record “Run Ricky Run” and the controversy with Troy Ave, the Edgemere Projects native is also gaining notoriety outside of the hometown. He’s dropping his “Concrete Rose” EP today (June 2nd), set to have features from Vado, Chinx (Riot in Peace !), Dave East, and Cali’s own, Problem. He’s one of the artists that is both creative and daring enough to follow the beat of his own drum, without biting off of the biggest artists of the day or trying to sound like any of the City’s forefathers. It’s artists like Manolo Rose who push both the city and the culture forward, blurring the regional lines that dictate what a city should sound like. He’s just out here making music anyone, anywhere could wild-out too.

Side-Bar: I gotta make it out to one of his shows on this “Concrete Rose” tour, anyone whose seen him perform his shit says he makes the records really come to life…

Nostalgia is healthy as long as you have your feet grounded in the present day and you’re not constantly trying to relive moments in your past. What I was once guilty of, as well many of my fellow 90s “Golden Era” New York hip hop fans, was wanting a resurgence for the city to happen in the same way it did the first time. I wanted the raw, fresh off the project bench, not-so-glamorous, gravely- RZA quality type of sound. I was looking for the next Nas, Raekwon, the next Ghost, and with those type of standards, I was setting myself up for disappointment. My expectations completely overshadowed good, modern day, talent and made me negligent to the possibility that it was even out there. But everything has to evolve, that’s what us fans looking for the next “Illmatic” need to realize. Jay-Z will never rap like he did on “Reasonable Doubt” again, The Firm isn’t going to get back together, it’s unlikely we ever see the members of the Wu on the same page again, & Prodigy did write a tell-all book, we need to get over it. We can argue and debate all day about why the city fell off. It could be the southern unity vs innately competitive nature of our artists shooting for the “King of NY”. It could be the lack of support from local djs and radio stations. It could be 50 cent. Maybe, we just started to lack innovation and got stuck in time, either way, it’s time to stop complaining and start embracing. We got caught in the feeling that the Tommy Hilfiger and Guess uniform era gave us, but we’re never going to get that feeling back. That feeling was a sign of the time, a moment and it was great while it lasted, but it’s over. The solution isn’t about bringing anything back, it’s about New York artists creating something new that has the same impact.

Though some of these modern day NY representatives may not be rapping over boom bap, Premo production, there’s still a unique style developing, and a promising movement on the horizon for the city. If you love hip hop, you don’t just love 90s hip hop, you also respect and/or appreciate aspects of it’s evolution. You don’t have to love the strip club singles, the trap claps, the rapper-singers, but if you love the culture, you’ll listen and pay attention enough to know that it’s not just those elements. As far as the new era ushering in, I’m not talking artists from New York that have blown up already courtesy of the sound of another region (Shout out to them for keeping our city out there though), I’m talking about New York artists who have taken all the elements of their influence & mixed it into a fresh cluster. The movement is in its beginning stages, but its moving. The faces, production and flows may have changed but the New, New York has talent, too. Ill always love the 90’s New York hip hop more than any other time or sound, but I’m not going to be close-minded. I’m also not naive to the fact that a lot of you reading this, will remain unmoved and that’s not a fault in your character, I’m just trying to raise awareness- don’t be fooled by everything you hear on the radio. I’m fucking with the new squad that could build a new era in the city’s history…To prove my point, I’m doing a 5 part blog series of my favorite, relatively new faces on the New York and even New Jersey’s hip hop scene. Each blog will detail my top spot from Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, The Bronx & Jersey. The first installment is dedicated to Q-u-e-another-e-n-s.

Name: Action Bronson

Stomping Grounds: Flushing, Queens

Breakout Year: 2011

Stand-Out project: “Rare Chandeliers” W/ The Alchemist (2012)

“Pain within running deeper than the ocean floor

Ocean avenue, the family straight from Kosovo
That was years ago mum look how your son has bloomed
I hum a tune and then I’m hotter than the sun in June
And I’m just living my life but feel I’m drifting
Demons on the doorstep, lungs that feel constricted
Or maybe I should see a shrink and get prescripted
Or take the hand of God but shit I think i’ll keep my distance” -(Action Bronson- 9/24/11)

I’d like to start off by saying Bronson is probably one of the only rappers who is actually comical, with the exception of Cam’Ron. The Chef-Turned-Rapper, Bronson incorporates humorous braggadocio about everything from who he fucks, to exotic choices of weed, to gymnastics, to pulling strings in big time college and NBA games. Despite the sense of humor, the man who claims to have paid Pat Riley to have Patrick Ewing miss the lay up in 1995, is no joke with his pen game. He’s held his own on tracks with some of your favorites, such as Prodigy, Raekwon and Kool G Rap, while keeping his foot in the new class, collaborating with Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa & ASAP Rocky, just to name a few. And just in case you were wondering , his A.K.A, is a mixture of his graffiti tag name (Action), as well as his love for 80’s action movies (Charles Bronson).

Early on, he was compared to Ghostface a lot, because of a voice reminiscent of 90’s Tony Starks, but has managed to develop into his own artist, out of the shadows of his influences. Bronsilini is a great contrast of the old and new New York. At first listen, especially on the first installment of the “Blue Chips” mixtape, he may remind you of some of the dudes you grew up on, because of the descriptiveness and imagery in his lyrics, but the way he incorporates his own personality into his music, his identity is unmistakable. Action Bronson has worked with a wide variety of production, everything from the soulful foggy sounds of Harry Fraud, to the genre-bending production of Party Supplies. You’re in for anything when you listen to Bronson, from smoking “Barbra Walters” Wax out of his G-pen, to his fitness sneaker fetish, to hiding drugs in the asshole of a Pitbull, but never anything that’s not entertaining.

SideBar: We hope to see his cousin Big Body Bes get out of jail soon, he’s provided some classic skits and intros from Action’s mixtapes.

If someone who walked the streets of Do-Or-Die Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, or 125th in Harlem, happened to move away somewhere around 1995, and decided to come back without much knowledge of the city now, they would question if they were even in New York City. The buildings may look a little nicer, rent may cost a little more, and crime may be down a bit, in part due to gentrification. For those who aren’t exactly sure, and just hear it a lot, gentrification is just an inner city area being turned over to wealthier residents or new businesses and increasing property value. Though you look at one side of Gentrification and you see better school districts, less drug dealing on the avenues, and less run down looking buildings and homes, you may think “Well, this is great”. But there’s always two sides to a coin and more than one side of a story.

The natives of these neighborhoods, that were once crime infested and run down are being pushed out, instead of reaping the benefits of gentrification after all the bullshit they dealt with in the neighborhood. Their children don’t get to go to the better schools, they don’t get to live in the safer version of their neighborhood, because its coming at their expense. People who have been in these parts of the city for years are struggling to pay rent due to all these improvements in the neighborhood. Gentrification is a plague to the city’s culture. Where there was once ethnic, hole in the wall, African, Soul Food, Italian, Chinese and Spanish spots to eat, there are now organic whole food places, or fast food franchises which took a lot of their places. Bodegas are a dying breed, due to 7-11’s and companies of that nature taking over. I always loved my city because of the diversity, because you can have so many different experiences, depending on which neighborhoods you go to. If you go The Bronx, or Spanish Harlem, you can get some Puerto Rican food at a Cuchifrito, if you go to parts of Brooklyn, you can get some banging West Indian food, or go to Howard Beach and get some real Italian food, you get the point. Instead, we’re in the beginning of an era where the last of the culture is still around, but you’re starting to see the same thing in every part of the city. Not that I have a problem with the city changing or the city improving, because that’s inevitable and positive, but at the same time, let the natives of that neighborhood be a part of it as well. Why does it take people of a higher tax bracket coming into a neighborhood, for the city officials to really make sure it’s a safer place to live? or to really put an effort into bettering the schools?, why wasn’t there just as much of a push for improvement when a lot of these neighborhoods were drug and crime ridden, with statistically the worst schools, from the 70s through the early 90s?. It take’s a couple of people from a different social class to take interest in the neighborhood, to really put fire under the city’s ass to clean it up.

Gentrification is usually in its first stages, when a daring group of young, mostly white, counter culture “Hipsters” move into a neighborhood. They are usually individual thinkers, who are on the cutting edge and like to go wherever the rents cheap and cultures rich. There’s a great concentration of them in parts of Brooklyn, especially Williamsburg, as well as The Lower East Side of Manhattan, which has also transformed. When they start to move into these neighborhoods, they don’t do it for the purpose of gentrification, but the fact that they are mostly Caucasian, it helps wealthier people feel more comfortable with seeing the potential and the overall feel of the neighborhood. When Blacks and Hispanics began moving into white neighborhoods, around the 60’s and 70’s, a lot of the white natives of the area moved out, being dubbed the “white flight”. Now a lot of wealthier (of all colors) people are moving into areas that were predominantly built up of working class minorities, and the natives just get pushed out, with a lack of options. There should really be some native appreciation, but in Christopher Columbus fashion, there isn’t. Gentrification, isn’t only something going on in the apple, but throughout the nation. The fact that homes are being lost because of changes in rent and taxes due to better school districts, etc, and legendary inner city neighborhoods are being stripped of their identity and culture, this is not going to happen without a huge consequence of tension among the victims of gentrification. But unfortunately, here in America, money talks louder than anything, and there isn’t a real understanding of the consequences until its too late. Sidebar: The New York City Culture also took a big shot when building owners who plan to put luxurious apartments up, whited out all of 5 pointz, the mecca of graffiti, in Long Island City, Queens. This is just the beginning.

From 2002 to 2005, there was nothing bigger in hip hop than 50 cent. He had just knocked Ja Rule out of his spot at the top of the charts, kicked his shoes off, and made that his new home. 50 and G-Unit were scorching, even before his record-breaking solo debut “Get Rich or Die Tryin'”. It was almost as if fif, Banks, and Yayo couldn’t release garbage, even if they tried. They were revolutionizing mixtapes, using it almost as a marketing plan and a build up for official studio albums. There’s no argument that they have a huge hand in why mixtapes play such a pivotal role for an artist in today’s game. Shady/Interscope was already a powerhouse in itself, with Eminem and Dr.Dre, Fifty and friends were just building a new empire on top of an empire. For that span of 2002 through 2005, everything G-Unit released (“Beg For Mercy”- G-Unit, “Hunger For More” – Lloyd Banks, “Welcome to Cashville”- Young Buck, “The Documentary”- The Game, “Thoughts of a Predicate Felon”- Tony Yayo, “The Massacre” – 50 Cent) was either certified gold, platinum or in the case of 50’s debut, diamond status (10 million plus, worldwide). Not taking away from the quality music that the group was putting out, but a huge piece of their success was from controversy as well.

G-Unit, mainly 50 cent, had issues with pretty much everyone at the height of their success. 50 had wiped Ja Rule clean off the face of hip hop, and continued documenting beefs with The Lox, Fat Joe, and Nas. These “beefs”, were just a money move for fif and it kept business booming. Though it didn’t dent any of his opponents careers too heavily (the way it did for murder inc.), it did disrupt any type of New York unity, maybe planting a seed for the sharp fall off on our branch of hip hop. However, piece by piece, the empire began falling apart. First, it was the Game. The Game wanted to collaborate with Nas and Jadakiss, who he grew up on ,and fifty took it personally as if it was a matter of disloyalty. The Game eventually started a G-Unot campaign, which whether people want to believe it or not, put a real scar on the G-Unit brand. It magnified the whole myth of 50 cent being a snitch, and took a lot of credibility from him, specifically on a street level. Next it was Young Buck. Apparently Buck was growing frustrated with his situation with the Unit, and started acting out publicly about it. This eventually led to him getting the boot, and 50 cent releasing a message recorded in his inbox from Buck crying about being given another chance. With Game and Buck out of the picture, it was crazy, but it was a business based relationship between 50 and them, not like the relationship Curtis had with Banks and Yayo. Banks, Yayo and Fifty were the original G-Unit, all Queens bred. But even those relationships eventually saw their demise. Banks and Fifty often danced around the topic of a falling out, but even Stevie Wonder could sense tension there. You never saw them together anymore, even in Bank’s brighter moments with “Beamer, Benz or Bentley”, and his consistent mixtape releases, 50 was no where to be found. 50 eventually grazed the situation, subtly remarking that Bank’s work ethic was not up to par with his own. Bank’s side of the argument was that his father had just passed, he needed some time to recover and fif was kind of callus and insensitive towards it. That only left Yayo. It was all good until yesterday, at least to the outsider. Though 50 declared the G-Unit brand to be a thing of the past, we still assumed there were still relationships considering it was more than music among the original 3. Just yesterday on Yayo’s Instagram, he posted, “50 ain’t rocking with me and Banks the same I layed my life down for the unit but you live and learn”. That you do. Though G-unit (as a collective) has been over on a level of relevance for years, it seems its over in every sense.

On top of the last link (Yayo), coming out about his detachment from the group, just today news broke of 50 leaving Shady/ Interscope, and taking the independent route. Mr. Curtis Jackson came to an agreement on an independent deal with Capital/UMG. The first thing that came to mind when I heard that, was a conversation 50 had with Styles P on the Angie Martinez show in 2007. After years of trading diss tracks, Angie Martinez played Mediator and got 50 on the phone with P. It was a civil conversation, but when Styles was arguing his decision of going independent, 50 mocked him about the independent money vs major label money, and specifically that Style’s label, “Koch”, was a graveyard for artists who were passed their prime. Ironic. Styles has seen more success and relevance on a music level with his independent grind since that point than fif, even with the machine backing that 50 had. Talk about a fall from grace, but its funny how history repeats itself (It’s murdaaaaaa). You can’t help but think how 50 displaced Ja from mainstream America, ruthless and relentlessly, and then see the same machine turn against him. That’s how the game goes. For the first time ever, 50 and Ja are at the same level of relevance. 50 cent’s gangsta persona has become discredited by the fact that he’s been out of that lifestyle for more than a decade and he struggles to reinvent himself. After 50’s attack on Rick Ross backfired, Ross dropped Teflon Don and became a megastar while fif just dropped, period. He hasn’t dropped an album since 2009, and nobody cares. 50 put so much time into destroying other people’s reputation, when he should have taken the time to re-evaluate his own craft, so eventually he self destructed, just as his last album title stated, “Before I self destruct”. More Irony. He’s now making records with Fat Joe, in the studio with Jadakiss and Style’s for his next album, and according to Cam, Fif is in business talks with the dipset cheif (who he had another feud with). Is it growth? or is it accepting the fact that you’re defeated?. Either or, the man is going to make his money, shit, he’s got enough endorsements that he never needs to write another lyric in his life, and it’s probably better off that way. Side Bar: At least “Get Rich or Die Tryin’, will always be considered a staple in hip hop history, some rappers have endured success but are followed by the black cloud of never dropping that one classic.

As the world already knows, Nicki Minaj just dropped her song & video “Lookin ass niggas”. The song is exactly what it sounds like, a song about guys who are looking hurt in the game, and looking at Nicki. At First it reminded me of that song that came out in ’08 called “looking boy”, by HotStylz and Yung Joc, which was just mocking other dudes and paying way more attention to another man than necessary. But what we have here is way bigger, and is about to take over every social network. There’s at least 5 bars in Nicki’s first verse, alone, that I could see under a cornball bird’s selfie on Instagram. “Look at y’all lookin ass niggas/ stop lookin at my ass, ass niggas”. Can’t you just see some girl in those tribal print, cheap leggings poking her ass out unnecessarily on IG, with that as a caption?. I digress. “I ain’t gotta check for y’all, but if I’m gonna check for y’all, Ima need a check from y’all niggas”. I’m already picturing one of those females who swears she’s a “boss bitch” holding up four twenty dollar bills, with that as her caption. You know the type. “Look at this pic, look at what the fuck I gave to you niggas”. Do I need to say anything more?. Didn’t think so. There’s a bigger picture here, in what this song does in the evolution of thirst.

Nicki has served as the Quotable Queen for wannabe “Bad Bitches”, in every rat hole of every city. Her songs usually have certain females feeling themselves extra hard, on the train, on the bus, in their mirror, and has them thinking about all the “imaginary thirstbuckets”, they are watched by wish they had. But “Lookin’ ass nigga”, is the anthem for women all over who are thirsty for thirst. The ones who really want to feel like there are guys out here sweating them. This type of young lady, will just listen to this song, and automatically feel like guys owe them money for her presence and have her stepping like a Goddess, imagining every guy she walks passed is a “lookin at my ass, ass nigga”. Thirst among females and males, has really only been used in one fashion. It’s usually referring to the parched individuals who pay so much attention to people they’re attracted to, that it’s not complimentary, not sweet, not cute, it’s just creepy at that point. Female’s will rant and rave about how much they hate it. meanwhile, deep down their confidence would probably be through the floor without it. But there is this less commonly shared type of thirst, from a rare breed out there, that will expose themselves after this song. I can’t wait.

(Need Attention or nah?)

Look we all have our insecurities, and it’s nothing to poke fun at. My only argument is stop acting like you hate the thirst. Thirst provides motivation for a lot of females, even if its only in their mind. But there’s always the girls, posting raunchy, provocative pictures on social networks, talking about “uh, I wish these niggas would stop sweating me”. Stop it, you love it. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t invite it. There are girls out there, who pay it no mind anymore, accepting it as a part of life, those are the ones who really experience thirst. If you have to post a quote from “Lookin ass nigga” or complain about thirst, you’re not really about that, and your insecurities are screaming at us. Side Bar: I’m not gearing this towards all Nicki fans, just the a specific type of Nicki fan. SideBar #2: The beat to “Lookin Ass Nigga” is tough. I confess.

(The infamous Malcolm X photo, as the “Lookin Ass Nigga” cover art?, that may be a little insulting to some)…